The deal allows Merck to take over development of privately held LaNova Medicines' LM-299, the companies said on Thursday. The drug candidate targets a protein called PD-1, which prevents the immune system from killing cancerous cells. It also curbs levels ...

In a move to safeguard the company’s dominant position in cancer, Merck said Thursday it will license a new cancer drug from LaNova Medicines, a Shanghai-based firm, for $588 million upfront and as much as $2.7 billion in potential milestone payments.

MRK in-licenses a bispecific antibody, based on the same mechanism as SMMT's lead drug, which outperformed its blockbuster drug, Keytruda, in a lung cancer study.